Three days had passed since Peach disappeared. Although the kingdom had initially been plunged into an uproar, the atmosphere at the palace was strangely placid. The consensus seemed to be that the princess had vanished into one of the magical rooms hidden within the castle walls and had somehow gotten lost. High Magician Toadsworth led the search through the various enchanted doorways, but the rescue efforts had so far proven fruitless. Both the king and the people held sufficient trust in Toadsworth to not launch a full-scale search outside of the castle. It had not occurred to anyone that the princess might have been kidnapped.
Or perhaps it had occurred to one person. Mario was beside himself with worry over Peach. Although he had seemed confident that the princess would be quickly returned, or rather, that she would quickly return herself, as the days passed Mario began to display signs of anxiety.
"Peach wouldn't have gotten herself lost in some magic room. She knows this castle better than anyone," Mario explained to Luigi and Daisy. "If she had some sort of accident, we would have found her by now. I just can't believe it. Why am I the only one who's upset in this entire kingdom?" He raised his voice, throwing his hands wide.
Luigi frowned. "You're not the only one who's upset. Can't you see that we're worried, too? And those rooms are infinite. No one has ever explored all of them, not even the princess."
"Besides," Daisy added, "time passes differently on the other side of those doors. Peach probably got drunk at the coronation ceremony and wandered off in a flight of fancy. More than likely, she's snoring away under an enormous toadstool on the dark side of the moon. I'm sure she'll find her own way back when she wakes up."
Luigi laughed and gave Daisy a salacious look from the corner of his eyes. "You know, one of these days I'd like to get you drunk and spend some quality time on the dark side of the moon."
Daisy's flirtatious giggles were cut short by Mario. "Are you two serious? She's been gone for three days. Three days! She could be hurt, or starving. Even worse, she could be lost somewhere far away from the castle! What about the hinges of her bedroom window? Daisy, didn't you say that you haven't been able to shut it properly since Peach disappeared? What if someone broke it?"
Luigi was surprised by the change that had come over his normally taciturn older brother. "I don't understand," he started, cautiously. "Are you suggesting that someone climbed the tower, broke into the window from the outside, and then spirited the princess away? That's ridiculous. You'd have to have wings to do that. Her window must be a good three hundred feet off the ground, and it looks straight down over the castle moat. No one could get into her room except by magic – or a magical flying machine – and the High Magician would have been able to detect magic." Mario looked as if he wanted to interject, but he could find no words to refute his younger brother's argument.
"You know," Daisy mused, "I do think it's rather strange that no one seems to be in a panic over Peach's disappearance. I mean, she was just crowned, right? She was scheduled to perform a tour of duty around the Mushroom Kingdom. If she's missing, then all sorts of audiences would have had to have been canceled, and the entire kingdom would know that she's disappeared. Why isn't everyone out looking for her? Now that I think about it, Mario, it is kind of weird. I'm ashamed to say this, but it hasn't even crossed my mind to start looking for her myself, or even to ask Toadsworth how the search is going."
"And you know what?" Daisy turned to Luigi, absently tugging at a lock of her hair as she avoided looking at either of the two brothers. "I can't for the life of me understand why, but I have a memory at the back of my mind that I can't quite catch hold of. On the night of the coronation ceremony, I remember being woken by a strange noise. It was almost like, I don't know. I can't find the words. Like a growling, maybe? Like a vibration. It was coming from, oh, I just can't remember! It sounded like it was coming from everywhere."
As Daisy seemed to be on the verge of tears, Luigi pulled her to him, and she buried her face under his chin. Luigi looked at Mario from over her head. "I haven't been worried, either. That does seem odd, doesn't it?"
Mario said nothing.
Luigi continued, "Perhaps the idea of a magical flying machine isn't so farfetched after all. What Daisy seems to be describing is the sound of a motor. I don't think this is that widely known in the Mushroom Kingdom, but I remember our father muttering something about an island kingdom with an extraordinarily advanced level of technology a few days' journey to the east by sea. I've always thought it was one of the fantasies of his old age, but he seemed fairly convinced. The other workmen refuse to say anything about it, which I find suspicious. Do you think that maybe...?"
Mario nodded. He had heard the rumor from his father himself, and the idea had been nagging at him ever since he had discovered the broken window. The Mushroom Kingdom was at peace with all of its neighbors, but if there were a mysterious country across the eastern ocean that no one would speak of, might it not be a land filled with vicious barbarians willing to kidnap a princess at the slightest pretext? He was relieved to hear Luigi confirm his suspicions.
"In any case," he said to Luigi, nervously twisting his red embroidered cap in his hands, "I don't think it would hurt to go looking for her. I can hire a boat from the harbor, and someone at the docks might have seen or heard something. Hanging around this castle is starting to give me the creeps. I'm going."
"Right now?" Luigi asked. Daisy turned to look at Mario.
Mario nodded.
"Do you think you'll find her?"
"I'll find her. I don't care what I have to do; I'll find her."
With that, Mario put his cap on his head, turned, and walked off.
Daisy looked up at Luigi. "That's so romantic! Would you go off to find me, if I disappeared?"
Luigi lowered his cheek to hers and spoke into her ear in a low voice. "Of course not. I would expect you to rescue yourself in time to be back before I came to visit you."
Daisy sighed. "What is it we were so worried about just a few seconds ago?"
"I have no idea," Luigi whispered absentmindedly before bringing his lips to hers.
